Barry Zito is a phony. He is nearly at a 1:1 ratio for K/BB which is never good when you are only striking out 5.47 batters. He faces a team that is 6th in the league in walks and he's walked Upton/Young a combined 15 times. There should be runners on base all day long and I see his ERA starting to creep towards his xFIP of 5.20 which is a more accurate indication of his ability right now. Zito just does not match up against the Diamondbacks well who are 10th with a .740 OPS vs. LHP. They score 1 run more per game vs. RHP than when they face righties and over 187 AB they have a .792 OPS vs. Zito who over the last three years has had 5 starts vs. the Diamondbacks and an 8.31 ERA to show for it.
Trevor Cahill on the other hand has better raw stats with a 3.83 XFIP and the Giants have 77 AB .195 and a .555 OPS against him. Giants are only scoring 3.5 runs per 9 vs. RHP this year at home so the Dimaondbacks 4.48 vs. LHP gives them the edge here too. Diamondbacks are 9-2 in the last 11 meetings while the Giants are 5-12 in Zito's last 17 as a dog.
